Men’s Firsts 10 – Corinthians 13

Our Senior Men's team got their first taste of competitive action last Friday night in a great competitive outing against our old city rivals. There were many positives for the Blues who gave debuts to several new starters, and we were unlucky to lose narrowly 13-10. A Ryan Roche penalty gave us a 3-0 lead at the break, however it was poor value for our dominance, Debutant centre Stevie Mannion was very unlucky with a long-range penalty from the touchline which sailed narrowly wide, and despite having territory for much of the half, we were unable to breach a solid opposition defence.

With the elements in their favour, Corinthians took an early lead in the second-half with a converted try. Although a 5m scrum was initially shoved back, the Cloonacauneen men regrouped and three phases later, flanker Jack Boylan grounded near the sticks. Joey Tierney converted and soon tagged on a penalty to put the visitors 10-3 to the good.
However any notion that the game was done and dusted were soon dispelled, as the Blues got right back into it and were level on the hour mark. A superbly worked try saw Andrew Sherlock feed Oisin McKey on his shoulder who crossed on the left. Mannion made no mistake landing the convert. A late Tierney put the visitors back in front, but in a frenetic finale, the Blues were unable to convert a late opportunity to snatch the win.